benefit of Dominator over Spitfire??

02-28-2012, 03:34 PM

I'm moved some of my boards to Mexico and i need a small wave / wind chop board for home for the spring summer. i surf a 6'8" alternator on the decent surf but i 'm looking for something for all the choppy and small days (even the 15 kts onshore days!). i surf beach breaks and in the spring they're usually pretty messed up and challenging for me to surf. i'm looking at the 6'4" spit or dom. i know the dom has been incredibly popular but i'm wondering if there is any advantage for the dom over the spit. it's seems like the spit tail is a no-brainer for biting turns but honestly, conditions are often bad enough (and i've only been surfing 3 years) that on these bad days i'm usually more concerned with making the drop and making a quick pump down the line to make the section than i am with pulling off biting turns off the lip (i get one of those a session on these days). is one board more forgiving on the drops and getting through the big chops?

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or a 6'6" hellfire???? honestly, i'm looking for a more stable easy-to-ride board on horrible choppy days than anything else. would any of these three be easier to ride or forgiving in chop? they're similar float.

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thanks all. anyone know of a reason why to go with the dom over the spit? if the spit was all better i would imagine they would discontinue the dom. so there must be something about the fat tail that is good something? probably smoother transitions like buzzy said?

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I asked much the same question and got much the same answer, but chose the Dom instead. Why? Two reasons; I tend to like round tails, and I thought there must be a good reason for its popularity. I just think it's a better looking board.

So far, having owned it for...I dunno, 4 or 5 months?...surfing it from 1 foot to around 1.5 times overhead...I haven't found any occasion where I've thought "gee, I wish I had a sharper point to my rails" or, "wish I'd got this in a diamond tail". That's not to say others mightn't have a different view, quite legitimately.

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So far, having owned it for...I dunno, 4 or 5 months?...surfing it from 1 foot to around 1.5 times overhead...I haven't found any occasion where I've thought "gee, I wish I had a sharper point to my rails" or, "wish I'd got this in a diamond tail". That's not to say others mightn't have a different view, quite legitimately.

After the hellfire I then started asking this question. There are times on the dom when I feel I want to draw not just a tighter arc, but a faster turn, particularly on roundhouse cutbacks when aiming to bounce back off the foam, the hellfire does it like lightning whereas the dom just drags a bit and sometimes you just can't afford to continue it round and have to break it off earlier than you'd like. With the tighter turning arc in the pocket I think the spit will take you to more places on the wave, around and in the pocket. The hellfire certainly does but needs a better quality wave, so I'm imagining and seeing in others' reviews and videos too that the spitfire can do this in the same average waves that the dominator was designed for.

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thanks guys. this helps. i think i'm leaning toward the spit because my local break is really unpredictable. it might look like 2-3' mush and then next thing you know you've got a jacked up 5' top to bottom section. i feel like i'd go dom if i knew it was going to always be mush but the spit will let me be ready for those changes and not having me running back to my truck to switch boards as often. it's settled 6'4" SPITFIRE to go with my 6'8" ALT. thanks everyone!

Just for the benefit of anyone else reading the thread I just thought I should say that I don't find the Dom to be a mush board. Indeed, I reckon the El Fuego, for instance, would be a better mush board. I find the Dom goes best in small to mid size waves with a bit of push. It handles hollow fine. That's not to suggest that the Spit might not offer a tighter arc as others have said. But the Dom definitely handles hollow conditions.